BEETLE'S REVIEW OF JENNIFER'S BODY

This may very well be the biggest dissapointment of the year since Transformers 2. Diablo Cody decides to try her hand at horror and it's a swing and a miss.

The film follows Jennifer; a smokin hot cheer captain type; and her semi-nerdy BFF (or as they call themselves "Biffs") as after a particularly crazy night at a bar Jennifer is abducted by a hot boy band, a few hours later she shows back up at Needys house covered in blood with a crazed smile plastered onto her face and proceeds to devour a slab of raw meat and projectile Vomit black goo all over the kitchen floor. It isn't long after that that Jennifer begins her new diet consisting of unsuspecting Teenaged boys.



At first glance the story concept sounds like an idea that we could have alot of fun with, and that's the first problem with Jennifer's body. The story had such great potential to be a fun, kick-ass film but neither Diablo Cody or Karyn Kusama act upon this. Jennifer's Body could have been a fun, sexy, gory romp through our local cinema but because Cody and Kusama ignored the various opportunities the story provided, the film unfortunately fell flat.


The trailers promised many things to viewers. They promised us sexy Jennifer doin her thing, gory kills on the big screen, and Megan Fox naked. The film did not deliver any of the above, instead choosing to tease us all the way till the end. The closest we get to actually seeing Jennifer rip into a boy is via an extended shadow shot. There's not much blood or gore here, certainly not enough to satisfy the most rabid of fans. Yet another problem with the film was that even though the film was rated R it felt like a poorly done typical run-of-the mill horror film. I honestly don't know how this film got an R. It feels like a film made for only the most stupid and easily pleased of middle-schoolers


The main reason I went to this film was to see Megan Fox doin her usual queen of Sex routine, but we never get any closeups of her ass or even zooming shots over her body as she walks or dances. I'm convinced that with a male director the film could have delivered on the goods , but instead the film is surprisingly devoid of Megan's usual sexed-up persona, and as far as breast shots go the film was empty of that as well. There was a ton of internet hype about seeing Fox Boobage, even photos of the scene were leaked, but when we actually get to the scene it feels quickly edited to extract the said shots, showing everything BUT the objects we want to see, which is a huge dissapointment.


The film was advertised as a horror/comedy but fails to deliver in both categories. Diablo Cody seems to have wanted to make her version of a horror movie but can't seem to provide any suspense. She uses the oldest cliches in the book. The methods she uses have been done so many times that it gives the film a been there-done that feel. As far as comedy goes the film is terribly flat as well. There are a few giggles but nothing that you'll remember as you walk out of the theatre. You can expect Cody's usual sense of wit, but we already saw all that in Juno last year.

Just about the only scenes that actually work are with Needy and her boyfriend Chip (including a hilarious sex scene they share...once again; no boobs). They are just about the only characters that feel real and that you care about in the film. Together they have a natural charisma and charm that just draws the viewer in. Besides these the only other scene that is able to nab viewers attentions is the makeout scene between Needy and Jennifer, they get pretty up in there with each other and the scene quickly becomes pretty intense. It showed that Kusama and Cody knew what we wanted to see, but as to why they didn't make more scenes like this is a mystery.


The film, unfortunately, is more of a chick flick that was created to give girls a film to drag their BFFs to on a boring night. It offers absolutely nothing for men. Think Juno in a halloween costume.


All in all Jennifer's Body was not a very fun film to watch. Hindered by a less-than-worthy script (lots of bad lines), pretty mediocre directing, and a sloppy editing job the film had potential to be a smash-hit but fell short due to the efforts of Cody and Kusama. Jennifer's Body adds up to a dissapointing time at the movies.

Some ole Bullshit- 1 star